Title: “Testing Teachers” Scripture: I John 4:1-6
Type: Expository Series Where: GNBC 7-21-24
Intro: The last weekend of September, Carol and I are planning on going to my high school reunion in my hometown of Marion, IN. While there I hope to see many of my old buddies. While there I am sure we will reminisce about a few of our hardest teachers and the assignments and tests they gave us. Teachers give tests. That’s part of their duties. However, very few students ever consider the number of tests that teacher has had to take in order to be proficient in his or her topic. Some of you here today are teachers. You graduated from HS, you graduated from college, some of you have MA level degrees or are working on such degrees. You have had practicums and student teaching stints, and all along the way you have been tested. A Harold Hill (lead character The Music Man), would be found out in an instant as an imposter if he attempted to teach a class today. However, today, just as in John’s day, Christians and the Christian Church need to carefully test those who purport to be teachers. Literally ANYONE can create a blog, FB, IG or YouTube page today claiming to be some gifted teacher or prophet without any credentials at all. We need to be very careful who and what we listen to and in the words of the Aged Apostle John, the Christian must “test the spirits” and thereby “test the teachers”.
Prop: Exam. I John 4:1-6 we’ll notice 3 essential elements of John’s call to test teachers.
BG: 1. This the 1st epistle of John is a letter of encouragement. Not sure if to multiple or an individual church. 2. One of the major heresies this letter confronted was the Docetic brand of Gnosticism, which denied that Jesus had come in the flesh, because they believed that all matter was evil and that salvation was based on esoteric insights from the supposedly super spiritual. 3. These teachers were infecting the Church with their erroneous teaching and needed to be rooted out then and we still need to today.
Prop: Let’s Exam. I Jn. 4:1-6 to notice 3 essential elements of John’s call to test teachers.
I. The Necessity of the Testing v. 1
A. John Declares the Necessity of Testing those Attempting to teach the Church Because Satan and his forces are alive and well.
1. Discernment is an Essential Element John Calls the Church to Practice.
a. Illust: Hopefully every school teacher has been tested in his or her field of expertise in order to assure a certain level of competency. So, testing is a necessity. John begins with this warning: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God…” Now, many in the world today will say such nonsense as: “It doesn’t really matter what you believe, as long as you believe.” Essentially, the system of testing for the world is: “If it works for you…then it’s true.” Now, John would tell us that that presupposes that God and divine truth is nothing more than the figment of one’s imagination. However, the Apostle would adamantly disagree with such foolishness. He would affirm that not only does God exist, but that He also spoke the worlds into order, created all there is, sent His Son to be our Savior, invites you to be reconciled to Him, and will one day come again for His people. And if this IS true, then you and I had better “test the spirits”. Test the origin and inspiration of the teaching we hear proclaimed.
b. Behind all spiritually false teaching is “the spirit of error” (1 John 4:6), led by Satan, but including all of his demonic forces. Whether they know it or not, behind every false prophet or false teacher is an evil spirit promoting the errors that they teach.
2. Discernment is an Essential Element for the Christian to Develop.
a. Illust: Ray Stedman pointed out (Expository Studies in 1 John [Word], p. 296), “It is significant that this warning comes in the midst of John’s discourse about love, because false spirits tend to make a great deal of the subject of love. Every cult, every deviant group, every false movement makes its appeal in the name of love.” The colossal doctrinal derailment of the Western Christian Church today is directly linked to the erroneous teaching of “love” that has infiltrated and infected with its parasitical powers the Mainline churches.
b. “From the day that Satan deceived Eve in the garden, until the last days, when the final antichrist will deceive the world (2 Thess. 2:3-12), evil spirits have promoted false teaching to lead people away from the living and true God. When John says, “many false prophets have gone out into the world,” we should realize that these were not sinister, evil looking characters. They didn’t blatantly encourage Satan-worship or child-sacrifice. They used Christian lingo and professed to believe in Jesus. No doubt, they had attractive personalities and convincing arguments. Jesus called them wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matt. 7:15).” (Steven Cole sermon)
B. Testing the spirits is the way to determine a teacher’s truthfulness.
1. We must test and use discernment because there are “Spiritual Scammers”.
a. Illust: Several years ago I read an article that stated that after the oil industry, the second most lucrative industry in Nigeria was: scamming Americans out of millions of $ by promising to give them millions of $!
b. John Stott once said that both Paul and John assumed, as the Reformers insisted, that “even the humblest Christian possessed ‘the right of private judgment’ … and both could and should apply the objective test John is about to give in the next verse.” (The Epistles of John, p. 153) If what someone is saying doesn’t “ring true” in your spirit, and doesn’t add up to what the WOG teaches, we should demonstrate discernment by refusing to listen to them.
2. Testing Prophetic Utterance Has Always Been Required of God’s People.
a. If one goes back to the OT, he/she will read the twin tests of Deuteronomy (13:1-5; 18:22) given to determine whether or not a professed prophet actually was a spokesman for God. 1st if the thing the prophet declared would come to pass did not come to pass, the people were not to fear that prophet. 2nd If even what that prophet said would come true did in fact come true, but yet he attempted to lead them astray after false teaching or to other gods, he was to be treated as a false prophet.
b. In John’s era the Bible had not been completely compiled. God was using Apostles and prophets, inspired by Him to transmit Divine Revelation to the infant Church. The presence of true prophets in the Early Church while the Canon was being determined, naturally stimulated the activity of false prophets attempting to earn a buck or negatively influence the purity of doctrine, and John taught that the content of their utterances was proof of their inspiration: either Divine or demonic. No middle ground.
C. Applic: The testing of teachers was and is an essential element in our Christian life.
II. The Focus of the Testing vv. 2-3
A. All Tests are given with a Focus on an Outcome.
1. What was the focus of John’s testing?
a. Illust: All testing has a focus, and not just to cause us pain! Calculus, Chemistry, English Composition… But equally, a Driver’s License, CDL, BAR exam, etc. if one wishes to be an electrician, I believe he/she has to pass thru 4 levels of testing over years of apprenticeship, in order become a Master Electrician. The reason we enforce such strict standards is because we need basic (or advanced) levels of competency for certain skills and professions. (Do you really want someone who has JUST watched a Youtube video?)
b. Testing is to have a purpose. John is giving a very focused spiritual test of discernment. To confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh means to agree with that statement, but it also means something more. The demons all agree that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who has come in the flesh (Mark 1:24; 3:11; 5:7). To confess this truth about Jesus implies submitting your life to Him as Lord (Rom. 10:9-10).
2. What is the Focus of John’s Testing as stated here in v. 2?
a. v. 2 – Notice the focus of this specific test John was asking the Church to apply: “Jesus has come in the flesh”. Again, why this specifically? Because John was attempting to root out this specific heresy of Doceticism/Gnosticism. A false teacher may be gentle and loving. He may speak prophecies that come true. He may even perform miracles or cast out demons or speak in tongues (Matt. 7:22; Exod. 7:11, 22; 8:7; Deut. 13:1-3). However, is he teaching another Gospel? Specifically, is he teaching that Jesus came in the flesh, lived a sinless/perfect life in the flesh, did His physical body die a gruesome substitutionary death on the cross, and did He rise bodily (in the flesh) three days later? If this is not taught, do not listen to that person. He is a false prophet.
b. Most assuredly when John wrote his Epistles and Revelation, he was the last living of the original disciples. These upstart esoteric profiteers were trying to teach a different Jesus. Yet, John had been the eye witness. John had beheld Jesus’ glory, That’s why John would write in I John 1:1 (Read). Illust: I appreciate the zeal that many young people today wish to address problems of pollution in the environment. However, when I hear someone speaking confidently about how much worse the American environment is today than say 50 yrs. ago, I laugh. Why? I remember the Cuyahoga River fire in Cleveland, or the Acid Rain that was common in Gary. I remember my father driving our family to see the Sears Tower in 1972 on a sunny summer’s day, and needing to be within about 10 blocks before we could see it through the smog. I grew up with both a factory and a foundry less than a ¼ of a mile from my house. Many from my parent’s generation died from various cancers possibly due to ground water infiltration. John is saying here, “I saw Jesus in the flesh, don’t believe anyone who says the opposite.”
B. John Gives the Doctrine of the Incarnation as One of the Great Tests to Determine Whether one is a true or false teacher.
1. John says that a specific confession matters.
a. When John states (1 John 4:2) that “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh,” he is referring not only to His true deity, but also to His true humanity. The Docetists taught that matter is evil; thus Jesus was only a spirit-being who seemed to be a real man. The Gnostics, whom John was probably combating, taught that Jesus was a mere man, but that “the Christ,” a divine emanation, came upon Him at His baptism, but left just before His crucifixion (Muslims believe this too). John’s test refutes both of these heresies. Jesus is the Christ (the Anointed One, or Messiah) who was conceived supernaturally by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary. He had a human body, although apart from sin
b. Illust: “If you had to name the biggest difference between Christianity and all other religions, what would it be? I think the biggest difference is this: it’s only the Christian faith that says “God became a man,” that God took on our humanity. It’s a radical and startling claim, and theologians call it “the incarnation”. Americans like chili con carne - chili with meat - the “carn” bit of incarnation means “meat” or “flesh”. So “the incarnation” refers to the idea of God’s taking on flesh—and not just His taking on a human body but His taking on everything that makes us human, including a human mind and a human soul. Without giving up any of His deity. The eternal Son of God took on flesh and died as a man, all so that death itself would die.” (Barry Cooper, Ligionier, 9-26-23)
2. John is saying Something Here that We Need to Remember today: “Theology Matters!”
a. Implicit in John’s warning here is that the content of our theology matters greatly! The difference between a person in a false cult who is going to hell and a true believer in Jesus Christ, who is going to heaven, is largely one of theology. Cultists are often more zealous and more knowledgeable about what they believe than we are. But, they deny that Jesus is true God in human flesh; we affirm it. John Calvin observes (Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker], on 4:2, p. 232), “Yet he only repeats here what we have met with before, that as Christ is the object at which faith aims, so he is the stone at which all heretics stumble. As long then as we abide in Christ, there is safety; but when we depart from him, faith is lost, and all truth is rendered void.”
b. Illust: Charles Spurgeon summarized this beautifully 175 yrs ago: The 19th century pastor Charles Spurgeon put it like this: Infinite and yet an infant. Eternal and yet born of a woman. Almighty, and yet nursing at a woman’s breast. Supporting a universe, and yet needing to be carried in a mother’s arms. Heir of all things, and yet the carpenter’s despised son.
C. Applic: In vv. 2-3 John states the focus of the testing is adherence to the Incarnation of Christ.
III. The Assurance Derived from the Testing v. 4-6
A. John States that We Receive Assurance Thru this Testing.
1. The Christian is Assured of the Credibility of the messenger and his message.
a. Illust: When our son David was a teenager he had to have a surgery in his thoracic region. We saw a specialist at UIHC who was a doctor in his mid 40’s. The doctor had been on staff at Tulane Medical School before coming to Iowa as a Pediatric Thoracic Surgeon. Years of specialized learning. However, he admitted to us that he had never performed this exact procedure before but was looking forward to it. He must have seen concern written on Carol and my faces, because he immediately stated: “After I do David’s surgery, I then have to perform a heart transplant on an infant.” The doctor was assuring us that he was more than competent to perform David’s surgery due to the complexity of the subsequent surgery. Wow, that took me to a new level of trust in his credibility.
b. John was teaching that although his readers weren’t more learned, more skilled in philosophy and debate than these false teachers, yet by refusing to be persuaded by them, they had in fact overcome them. May I very gently warn us Christians there are a lot of spiritual snakes!
2. John states that the Christian is able to overcome these false teachers because of the anointing every single true believer has.
a. Some people have amazing natural instincts. When we refer to instincts, we mean “the inherent inclination of an animal towards some type of complex behavior.” I.e Salmon swimming upstream, the migration of Monarch Butterflies or Hummingbirds, or many other examples from the animal kingdom. Yet, John would say that every born again Christian has a “built in supernatural instinct”. I John 2:20 says: “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know…” It is a spiritual instinct that comes from the residing of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian.
b. V.4 – You see, if “He that is in you (as a Believer) is the Holy Spirit, then He is greater than he that is in the world (the spirit of falsehood or antichrist). How does the Spirit preserve us from error? It is not enough to be a spiritual ignoramus and say, “the Spirit will protect me from error.” The Spirit protects us through God’s Word, which reveals the truth about the person and work of Christ (4:2-3). The Word is the measure by which we test the spirits, but as Calvin points out (p. 230), “except the Spirit of wisdom be present, to have God’s word in our hands will avail little or nothing, for its meaning will not appear to us.”
B. The Methodology of the Testing vv. 5-6
1. The Methodology of Testing Assumes an Outcome.
a. When John says, “You are from God, little children,” he is pointing again to the new birth. Christianity is not just a matter of subscribing to certain creeds or correct doctrines, although that is essential. It is a matter of being born of God so that you receive new life from Him and become His child. This new birth is absolutely essential if you want to be able to understand and hold to the truth. This is so important that John repeats the phrase “from God” in 4:1, 2, 3, 4, & 6 (2x). By way of contrast, the false teachers and those who follow them are “from the world” (4:5, 2x).
b. What makes those whom John is criticizing to be “of the world”? Because they want to accommodate the Gospel to the philosophy of the world, thereby depriving it of what actually makes it the Gospel! the Gospel is the message of the Kingdom of God overcoming, not incorporating and accommodating all opposition! The outcome of the methodology is quite simple: The world will know and accept the false message of the worldly false teachers. The Christian will know and accept the true message of true Christian teachers.
2. Asa
a. Illust: On 12-16-1739, George Whitefield preached a sermon on Matthew 22:42 at Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, Va. He asked his audience the very same question that Jesus had asked his hearers 1,700 years earlier: “What think ye of Christ?” The question then and today has eternal consequences. Some of the answers of Jesus’ day—He was John the Baptist risen from the dead; He was one of the prophets; He was Elijah (Mk. 8:27ff)—were similar to answers given in Whitefield’s day. Benjamin Franklin, a good friend of Whitefield’s, considered Jesus a peerless teacher, but wouldn’t confess His deity. Others regarded Jesus as divine, but in such a way that His deity is less than the Father’s. Whitefield, true to the testimony of Scripture, was not ashamed to tell people that Jesus Christ is fully God and that “if Jesus Christ be not very God of very God, I would never preach the gospel of Christ again. For it would not be gospel; it would be only a system of moral ethics.”
b. IN the last few years 1000’s of churches from several mainline denominations leave their communions. Most of these divisions have been over unbiblical teaching on sexuality and in some regards, salvation. The UMC has lost at least 1/5th of all congregations since 2019. The Episcopal Church has lost upwards of 20% of its congregations. Since 2009 at least 600 congregations in the ELCA (misnomer!) have left as a result of the ordination of gay/lesbian clergy and now marriage. About 1/10th of all Evangelical Presbyterians have left the ECO since 2012. None of this had to happen. So how did it happen? Clergy and laity neglected to test their teachers/spirits to see if their message was Biblical or simply some philosophical/psychologized message made to receive the approval of man rather than the approval of God.
C. Applic: Praxis exams, offered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), are designed to measure the academic skills and subject-specific content knowledge needed for teaching. These exams are required by many states as part of the teacher certification process. Our prayer should very simply be: “God help us to be unbelievers when it comes to error and believers when it comes to truth.”
